Process of making worsted type yarn



Oct. 15, 1957 K. AVERY PROCESS OF mumc WORSTED TYPE YARN 5 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Dec. 2, 1955 ArsAX ATTORNEYS Oct. 15, 1957 K. AVERY 2,309,401

PROCESS o5" MAKING IOR$TED TYPE mm Filed Dec. 2, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 LINVENTOR lA r 14/519) ATTORNEYS.

PROCESS OF MAKING WORSTED TYPE YARN 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 K. AVERY Oct 15,1957 Filed Dec. 2, 1955 Oct. 15, 1957 Filed Dec. 2. 1955 K. AVERY2,809,401

PROCESS OF MAKING WORSTED TYPE YARN 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTORNEYS.

BY 7, 71 MW.

Oct. 15, 1957 5 K. AVERY 2,809,401

PROCESS OF MAKING WORSTED TYPE YARN Filed Dec. 2, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5T1 ca .7.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Ofifice 2,809,401 Patented Oct. 15, 1957 2,809,401PROCESS OF MAKING WORSTED TYPE YARN Kent Avery, New York, N. Y.,assiguor to Bachmann Uxbridge Worsted Corporation, Uxbridge, Mass., acorporation of Massachusetts Original application February 18, 1953,Serial No. 337,599. Divided and this application December 2, 1955,Serial No. 550,571

2 Claims. (Cl. 1H5

This invention relates to worsted top and yarns suitable for use in themanufacture of wearing apparel including high quality worsted typefabrics. This application is a division of my copending applicationSerial No. 337,599, filed February 18, 1953, now abandoned, which was acontinuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 670,752, filed May 18,1946, now abandoned.

Existing standard practices or methods for making Worsted yarn forwearing apparel, including the Bradford and French systems, employ longwool fibers, often referred to as worsted wools, comprising fibers whichrun up to from 5" to 7" or more in length. Of these fibers approximately65-80% by weight are over- 2" in length and approximately 30-65% byweight are over 2 /2" in length. Such long fiber wools are substantiallymore expensive than the shorter fiber wools used in making the Worstedtype yarn as disclosed herein.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide worsted topand yarn which compares favorably with high quality worsted top and yarnpresently commercially available and whichis unique in itsshort-fiberlength distribution. i i

Another object of the invention is to provide high quality worsted yarnwhich has the advantage of economy both in the raw material employed andin the processing of the fibers into'yarn, and from which worsted topfabrics may be made effecting a substantial economy over fabrics ofsubstantially equal quality made from standard worsted wools.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple, practical andefiicient process for the production of worsted yarn.

Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious or in partpointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and in the severalsteps and relation and order of each of said steps to one or more of theothers thereof, all as will be pointed out in the following description,and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in thefollowing claims.

The invention will best be understood if the following description isread in connection with the drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of the picker;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic elevation of the card and associated feed anddischarge apparatus;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic elevation of a draw frame used in the firstdrawing operation;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic elevation of the comber;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic detail view illustrating the joining of thetrailing edge of the previously combed lap and the leading edge of thenewly combed fringe, proportions being exaggerated in this view forclearness;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of the discharge of the combershowing the manner in which slivers from the several combing heads ofthe machine are combined for drafting as they leave the comber;

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic elevation of a draw frame used in carryingout a drafting operation subsequent to the combing step;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic elevation of roving apparatus and also showsa draw frame for carrying out a drafting operation just preceding theroving step; and

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic elevation of apparatus used in the spinningstep of the process.

Wool suitable for use as a raw material in my process, may, for example,be the noil obtained as a by-product from the combing of worsted wools,or woolen wools such as pieces," crutchings" and shortings" can be used.Suitable short-fiber wools are obtained from sheep that have beenclipped more frequently than once a year or wools that have been pulledfrom the pelts of slaughtered sheep. By my process short-fiber scouredwools of the type referred to above may be made into worsted top andyarn of good quality. The process comprises fewer operations thanstandard processes of making worsted yarn, and yarns made by my processand having the short-fiber-length distribution taught in thisdisclosure, can be produced at lower cost than the longer-fiber yarnsmade by the prior art processes. The resulting worsted top and yarn hasa strength and appearance comparable with the longer-fiber worsted yarnsof the prior art. Moreover fabrics made from yarns produced by myprocess have strength, appearance and wearing quality substantiallyequal to those of fabrics produced from the customary long fiber worstedyarns.

In one of its broader aspects the present process comprises converting.short-fiber wool top into spun worsted yarn by the steps of picking,carding, drawing, combing, drawing, roving and spinning. It should benoted that various operations such as gilling and back-washingordinarily employed in the processing into worsted yarns of long-fiberwools can be eliminated in the present process. In standard worstedmanufacture it is customary to control the shorter-than-maximum-lengthfibers during drafting by fiber carriers such as gills or porcupines butthey are not necessary in the present process, and hence this processpermits the use of simpler and less expensive machinery as well aseliminating a number of steps presently employed in producing worstedyarn.

In making my worsted top and yarn I have had very Avery Type Avery Typelk-lh French Type mwmwwwwwmm nwL 7 5 & 51 3 12%8 French Type 2&5

Percent by Weight Average mechanic Percent by Weight Average Type WarpType Schedule 3 mmwwwmwmmmmmmmw 7655131694 122 7 0 51 WQQS 4W1.

Warp Type Schedule 4 Length of Fibers- Groups of istribution MeanLength.

3 satisfactory results using wool fibers at least 50% of which are notlonger than 2" and .at least 70% are not longer than 2 /z In thefollowing schedules 1 and 2 the fiber d of wool top used inmanufacturing worsted top and yarn 5 of 64/76 grade by the Averyprocess, which is the subject of this application, is compared with thefiber distributionof the three different types of wool top known in theindustry as Warp type, Average type and French Length of Fibers- Geoups0t 56" n of the Wool fiber stock making worsted top and col fiber stockused in in each 36" Schedule 1 Mean Length.--

ges given 11 in the Brad- ;processes in making worsted pproxithe statedpercentages would be table variable being proportional to y-weight of gworsted yarn by the French ed in the or less,

are "not y use y weight do not of which do not in length, and 85% ormore of which do not exceed 2%" :in length.

ight do do notexceed 2"; and

pplicant to definitely for all manufacturers it range having a variationof a the Avery system p and yarn I preferabl re of which b exceed 1% inlength and 65% or more exceed '2" ght variation between ditfcrent d theabove percenta are representative of the fiber distributio ford andFrench prior art given in the above schedule Wool comprise only 20.16% bmakin 943.69% by weight .of the total yarn by the Bradford system; yweight of the total fibers used according to the Avery system; 9% of thefibers us or less, and only 27.48%17.92% he Bradford system are 2" Inmaking worsted top and yarn of 64/70 grade I have 21 70 obtained verygood results using short fibers 99.6% of exceed 3" in length; 41.8% bywe by weight exceed 2%" in length. .l have percent by weight of thefibers m0 m r. mo W3 8 m w s 1 mm mw mm h s 5 6 While there is some sli,It will beseenthatas fibers 1 /2" or les yarn. While ,it is impossiblefor a state the range of such variations is believed that a mately5%--;l-

batches of fiber-emplcye what acceptable, the accep the lengthof thefibers.

the total fibers in system;'.and only 7.8

fibers in making worsted 3 mg; but comprise over 36% b y in makingvworsted yarn and whereas =0nly 10.1

French system are 2 of the fibers used in t which do not not exceed 1%80.1% 97.6% by weight do not used stock in which the which are 1 /5"- orless are greater'than in the aboveex- 'ght of the French ype prepared inthe ate to wool fiber gth i. e. what perype of wool top do ot exceed 2Peroent by Weight Average yne yarn, and'worsted top in gives the percent"by weight the average fiber distributio 2515 0 d rrh w 22110 0 5 1 1 mwn a v ay tw mwa o y w t h Y n T t w n mkm n t W a rR m m o e ct h m m oeNwgg Bp w vk e n n d m an a mama m n h mm r n t a h m m t a .N- mc Somad war Mvo S um sVzada .mw ymw t mM tm m ocw emr. S fh g U u W 6 c O nm. a n mwh afm wWB Th m o b v. d s u eb c g d 0 mi mmmm 0T mwv a l 5 Sir P Sdy e 9...: S VECH m pL mmw m m e I c n r. S 0.10 h mmm u .w m .c Itu S w am l 0 e n W/ Y 0 W mi Q O S b. w a mm ff nfa O WooflkoemwC usedinthe Avery process for yarn of grade 64/70 and of the w making worstedtop afores h n s s & Q n S .S nmmwmfienmmw ea r1 rk krbrl rvmrhw P I I TF T IM '0' 01 Or Or 0 000 u 77665544332M.l1% 0 5 0 3 3 4 v. n u 1 u A 1m. m wwwmwmmmucm 8 m mm 0000 2 m wm 51 w T V. b m e mmacnnnwwwe s e v cP A 2 p wmawmammwawmwa. r am mmmumi m H m m w an m n m h u I I u h D ua. h m m :Warp

Schedule 12 gives the percentages by -we1 whichido not exceed a statedlen what percent do n of fin ups 'lhe gtollowing Schedules 3 and 4 aresame way as Schedules 1 and 2 but rel stock used in making worsted erslis chedule :2

cent of the'total fibers of a given t not exceed llti'f getcent do notexceed 2%" in length etc.

length of FIbees -Grc MeenLengththe casenof the Avery process of- :grade62:

ample. I have also successfully used stock in which the percent byweight of the fibers which are 2 /5" or less in length has been 95.2%;the percent by weight of fibers 2" or less has been 68.2%; and thepercent by weight of fibers 1 /2" br'less has been 28%. 5

The following table shows the distribution of both average and maximumlength stock I have used in producing worsted top and yarn of 64/70grade:

Average Maximum Fiber length Wt. in Fiber Length Wt. in

Percent Percent Total 100.0

The following fiber distribution is representative of yarn I have madeof 60/62 grade: 39.2% by weight of 1 /2 or less; 73.9% by weight of 2"or less, and 94.5% by weight of 2 /2" or less. I have used stock havinga larger percentage of the fibers of said lengths, and I have alsosuccessfully used stock in which the percent by weight of the fiberswhich are 2 /2" or less has been 93.6%; in which the fibers 2 or lesshas been 56%, and in which the fibers 1 /2" or less has been 26.5%.

The following table shows the distribution representative of bothaverage and maximum length stock I have used in producing worsted topand yarn of 60/62 grade:

Average Maximum Fiber length Wt. in Fiber Length Wt. in

Percent Percent 4.5-5.0 "2i? "(1'5 a 3. f 3.0-3.5 0.8 0. a 40 2.5-3.0 4.J 5. 6 2.0-2. 20. 6 37. 6 1.5-2. 3'1. 7 29.3 1.0-1. 27.6 19. 9 .75-1.7.7 4.6 .50-.75 2.9 1. 5 .25-.50 0. 7 0.4 .00-.25 0.3 0.1

Total 100. 0 Total 100. 0

The present method taught herein avoids the processing of fibers inbulk, such as occurs in the manufacture of worsted top which commonlyweights 250 to 230 grains per linear yard. With the present process, theproduct is handled as a relatively light-weight sliver averaging about40 grains per yard and at no time exceeding one hundred grains perlinear yard. By avoiding the heavy bulk characteristic of priorprocesses, a satisfactory yarn can be produced with fewer reductionsteps.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment wool top, comprising fibersthe longest of which are on the order of three inches, and more than 50%of which by weight, and preferably more than 65%, are not over 2", i. e.2" or less in length, is prepared for carding by being fed through apicker, similar in some respects to a cotton picker, but of modifiedconstruction as will be explained. The picking operation opens the wooland removes therefrom residual amounts of dirt, grit and other foreignmaterial and also puts the material into lap form for the subsequentcarding operation. It should be noted that worsted wools are notprepared for carding by picking in any of the conventional prior artsystems.

The second step of the preferred embodiment of my process is carding,which in accordance with my invention can be carried out on a relativelysimple one-cylinder roller card, employing as few as three workers andstrippers. The wool is fed into the card in the form of a blanket-likelap as it comes from the picker. Since the wool has been previouslyopened by the picker, a relatively simple card can be used.

The product of the carding operation is a sliver which is lighter inweight per unit length than is obtained with long-fiber wools and has asmaller relative variation in weight from length to length and thereforerequires less subsequent attenuation and averaging out." The high degreeof uniformity of the product of the carding operation is to aconsiderable extent due to the fact that the wool is fed to the card inlap form and hence the lap feed to the. card is an important feature ofthis process.

Following the carding operation the fiber is subjected to drawingoperations both before and after combing. In accordance with myinvention, these drawings are carried out on a draw frame using draftingrolls only. As previously pointed out, this drafting operation differsfrom the corresponding operation of prior processes in that the priorprocesses used drafting apparatus incorporating gills 0r porcupines,whereas in the present process, the drafting can be effected by the useof rolls only. The purpose of the first drafting step is to parallelizethe fibers as much as possible before combing.

The combing is carried out on a multiple-head comber described morefully hereafter. The machine is preferably so adjusted as to remove onlya minimum of short fibers, thus reducing the waste or noil on thecombing operation. The comber comprises a number of separate combingheads and the slivers from these separate heads are combined and drawnon the machine by drafting rolls similar to those employed on the drawframe used pr1or to the combing step. Thus the product of the combingoperation is averaged, and is generally superior 1n evenness, and ofless bulk, than the product obtained from the standard worsted combingoperation.

The combing operation is followed by a drawing operation, usually twodrawing steps, in addition to that which takes place as the productleaves the comber. In none of these drawing operations does this processemploy gill boxes, or porcupines, nor does it use twist" for fibercontrol. Due to the evenness of the product obtamed from the comber, ithas been found that two drawmg steps subsequent to combing are desirableto produce a product comparable with that previously obtained in worstedmanufacture by using five to nine gilling and drawing operations. Thedrawing operations are followed by a single roving step and a singlespinning step. For these steps I have found it possible to employ highdraft roving and spinning frames similar to those used in the cotton andrayon industry but modified as will be described.

Referring to the drawings and particularly to the lefthand side ofFigure l, the raw wool is carried by an endless belt or apron 10 to anelevator 12 which is an endless belt mounted on the sprockets 14 and 16and driven in the direction of the arrow. The surface of elevator 12 isprovided with pins 17 that pick up the wool discharged by conveyor 10and carry it upwardly. Near the top of elevator 12 there is anoscillating fork 18 that oscillates through a small angle about shaft20. The operating end of oscillating fork 18 is spaced at predetermineddistance from the adjacent surface of elevator 12 and operates to limitthe thickness of the layer of wool that is carried over sprocket 16.Wool removed by the oscillating fork 18 is thrown downwardly toward thebottom of the elevator and this action serves to open up the wool tosome extent.

The layer of wool on elevator 12 passes over the sprocket 16 and isremoved from the elevator by a dofferbeater roll 22 'mounted on anddriven by shaft 24 in the direction of the arrow and provided withblades 26. The blades of roll 22 have a higher peripheral speed than thebeltofele'vator 12 and hence remove the layer of wool therefrom anddrive it downwardly along an arcuate grid 28 adjacent to the peripheryof roll 22. The dotting and beating action of the roll 22 further opensup the wool and causes dirt and foreign material therefrom to passthrough the interstices in grid 28 and fall into a container 30 whichserves to collect these impurities. 7

From the grid 28 the wool passes down a ramp 32 onto an endless apron 34which is driven in the direction of the arrow and carries the wool to athree-bladed carding beater generally designated 36. As the wool isconducted toward the beater by apron 34, it is held downwardly againstthe apron by a pair of corrugated press rolls 38 and 40. At thedischarge end of apron 34, the layer or lap of wool passes between twofeed rolls 42 which serve to feed the lap to the beater 36. The heatercomprises three blades 44 which are provided at their outer ends withpins 46. The blades 44 rotate rapidly and carry the wool from feed roll42 down over a fringe roll 43 and along an arcuately arranged series ofgrid bars 48. Because of the high speed at which they rotate, the blades44 further open up the wool, and dirt and other foreign matter containedtherein pass through the grid bars 48 to a container 50 wherein they arecollected. The wool in opened form is drawn through a channel 52 towarda pair of screen rolls 54 and 56 that are driven in the directionindicated by the arrows thereon. The rolls54 and 56 have a screensurface and are internally evacuated through a conduit 58 by means of afan 60. The vacuum produced in the interior of rolls 54 and 56 draws thewool against the screen surfaces of the rolls from which the wool isremoved, after passing through the bite between the rolls 54 and 56, bythe draw-off rolls 62. Material passing through the screen surfaces ofrolls 54 and 56 is driven by fan 60 through a channel 64 to a housing 66containing a screen roll 68 having a fine screen surface. The roll 68 isinternally evacuated to cause the fine material suspended in the air tocollect on the surface of the roll, and this layer of material isremoved by a pair of draw-off rolls 70 and rejected.

From the rolls 62 the wool passes to and between a pair of endless beltelevators 72 and 74 which are driven in the direction of the arrowsthereon and by means of which the wool is raised and discharged into ahousing 76. At the top of the elevators, the wool passes between a pressroll 78 and the top of elevator 74 and then through feed rolls 80 to adoffer-beater 82 similar to the dotfer-beater 24. The wool is drivendownwardly by the doffer-beater 82 along a series of grid bars 84similar to the bars 28- and is discharged into a compartment 86. At thebottom of compartment. 86 the wool is collected and conducted by aseries of rolls generally indicated by the numeral 88 to a cardingbeater 90 similar to the beater 36. From beater 90 the wool passesbetween screen drums 92 and 94 which are provided with a vacuum andwaste disposal system similar to that associated with rolls 54 and 56.The wool is removed from screen drums 92 and 94 by the draw-off rolls 96and passes between calendar rolls 98 to a wind-up roll 100 which restson the supporting rolls 102 and 104.

The wool on the wind-up roll 100 is in blanket or lap form and in thenext step of the process is fed in this form to a card in a manner whichwill now be described.

Referring to Figure 2, the roll 100 is mounted to rest on an idlersupporting roll 106 and the lap is drawn over a feed plate 108 by a feedroll 110 and delivered to licker-in roll 112 at a relatively slow rate.The lickerin roll 112 is rotated at high speed in the direction of thearrow thereon and may have a surface speed of about 70 times the speedat which the lap is fed thereto. The surface ofthe licker-in-rollisprovided with pins or wires iii that catch the wool fibers and carrythem downward past a pair of r'note knives 114 and series of grid be1-16 to the surface of a main carding cylinder 118. T high speed of thel'icker-in roll 112 serves to open up ti wool considerably, and dirt andforeign materials ther by released from the wool pass through the gridbars 11 to a container 119.

The main carding cylinder 118 is rotated in the dire tion indicated bythe arrow thereon with a peripher speed approximately twice that of thelicker-in roll. Tl surface of the carding cylinder is provided with pins1 wires and since the surface speed of the carding cylind is greaterthan that of the licker-in roll 112, the cardir cylinder removes woolfibers from the licker-in roll at carries them upwardly to a series ofthree worker rol 120 and stripper rolls 122 located adjacent to the toppo tion of the carding cylinder 118. The worker and stri per rolls 120and 122 are provided with pins similar 1 those on the surface of cardingcylinder 118 and are n tated as indicated by the arrows. The workerrolls 12 rotate at a lower peripheral speed than the main can ingcylinder and remove a portion of the wool from tr surface of the cardingcylinder. The stripped rolls 12 rotate at a speed intermediate that ofthe main cardin cylinder and that of the worker rolls and serve to tran:fer wool fibers from the worker roll back to the surfac of the cardingcylinder again. As a result of this cart ing action the wool is furtheropened and dirt remove therefrom.

At the down-turning side of the carding cylinder 11 there is a dotferroll 124, the surface of which is prc vided with pins similar to thoseon the carding cylindei The dotfer roll 124 is rotated at a surfacespeed consid erably less than that of the main carding cylinder anremoves wool therefrom. Wool transferred to the doffe roll 124 is inturn removed therefrom by an oscillatin comb 126 oscillatable about ashaft 128. The remove fibres are drawn through a funnel 130 by a pair ofroll 132 and thereby converted into a sliver which is coilel into acontainer 134 by a conventional coiling mechanism generally designated136.

In the next step of my process the slivers produce from the cardingoperation are drawn in a draw frame i1 lustrated in Figure 3. Asindicated in Figure 3, a num ber of slivers, in this case six, arecombined and fed tr the first pair of rolls of a draw frame generallydes ignated 142. In the draw frame 142 the wool passe: from the rollpair 140 successively through the roll pair; 144 and 146. The successiveroll pairs are driven at suc cessively higher speedsand thus the wool isattenuate: or drafted as it passes between the roll pairs. Associatecwith the rolls 144 there is a third roll 148, the surface of which isspaced a predetermined distance from the surface of roll 144. Thepurpose of roll 148 is to control the shorter fibers. It should be notedthat the rolI pairs 140, 144 and 146 are relatively closely spaced andthat no pins or gill fallers are used, control of the short fibers beingobtained solely by close spacing of the rolls. From the rolls 146 thewool passes through a funnel 150 and calendar rolls 152 and is thencoiled by a conventional coiling mechanism 154 into a container 156.

In the next step of my process the wool is combed in a suitable comber,such as that shown in Figure 4 of the drawings. The wool is fed to thecomber in the form of a relatively narrow lap made by combining a numberof slivers from the preceding drawing operation. A number of theseslivers, say twenty for example, can be combined in a conventionallap-Winder to produce the feed lap for the comber. Since such a lapwinder is well known in the art, it is not illustrated in the drawings.

Referring to Figure 4, a double-sided comber is illustr-ated wherein therolls of feed lap are supported on corrugated rolls 162 and the laps arefed downward- 19 along guide plates 164 to the feed rolls 166 and 167,

the surfaces of which are provided with pins that engage the lap. Itwill be noted that the two sides of the comber, are identical inconstruction but do not perate in phase, that is to say, at any giventime the two sides of the comber are performing different parts of thecombing operation. For convenience the left-hand side of the comber willbe described first.

The principal parts of the comber associated with the roll 166 are anupper nipper jaw 168 and a lower nipper jaw 170 which are relativelymovable, a rotary comb 172 having the combing needles 174 arrangedaround a predetermined portion of its periphery, a top comb 176 and thedetaching rolls 178. In general the sequence of operations is asfollows: during the period when the nipper jaws 168 and 170 areseparated, feed roll 166 is rotated to cause a small amount of theleading end of the lap to pass between the jaws, after which the nipperjaws are brought together to leave a fringe 180 of the lap protruding,The protruding fringe 18!) is engaged by the needles 174 of rotary comb172 as the comb rotates and is combed thereby. The length of the fringe180 determines the amount of waste or noil combed out. Waste is removedfrom teeth 174 of comb 172 by a rotary brush 165.

When the needles 174 have moved beyond the fringe 180, the feed roll andnipper jaw assembly swings outward to the position shown in Figure 4a.At the same time, the detaching rolls 178 are rotated in the directionof the arrows shown in Figure 4a to move the previously combed lap backso that the trailing edge 182 thereof is engaged by the fringe 180 thathas just been combed. The direction of rotation of rolls 178 is thenreversed to draw the trailing edge 182 and newly combed fringe 180between the detaching rolls. At approximately the same time the nipperjaws open and the top comb is lowered to cause the parts to occupy theposition shown at the right side of Figure 4.

Referring particularly to the right-hand side of the comber of Figure 4,the principal parts of this side of the comber are feed roll 167, upperjaw 169, lower jaw 171, rotary comb 173 with needles 175, top comb 177,and detaching rolls 179. With the parts as shown in Figure 4, thedetaching rolls rotate in the direction shown by the arrows and feedroll 167 also rotates, but at a slower speed than the detaching rolls.This action causes a portion of the lap to be detached at a point belowfeed roll 167. Since the feed roll has a surface provided with spacedprojections and since the feed roll is slowly rotating, this detachmentis readily effected without breaking of the fibers. The detached portionof the lap is drawn by detaching rolls 179 through the top comb 177 andcombed thereby. The feed roll 167 continues to rotate to feed anotherfringe through the nipper jaws for combing, after which the feed rollstops and the nipper jaws again come together to clamp the trailing endof the fringe for the next combing action.

Reverting to the left side of Figure 4, the combed wool passes through asliver pan 184 and then through a funnel 186 and corrugated rolls 188 toa channel 190.

Referring now to Figure of the drawings, this is a diagrammatic planview of some six combing heads of the type just described and furtherillustrates the manner in which the combed lap is drawn through funnel186 to form a sliver and passes between corrugated rolls 188 of each ofthe combing heads. The resulting slivers designated 194 pass around theguide posts 196 in channel 190 and are combined as feed to draw framegenerally designated 198 and particularly shown in Figure 6 of thedrawings. Referring to Figure 6 the draw frame 198 is essentially thesame as the draw frame 142 of Figure 3 and comprises the closely spacedroll pairs 200, 202 and 204. The rolls pairs are rotated at successivelyincreasing speeds to attenuate and draft the fibers. From the draw frame198, the drawn sliver passes htrough a funnel 206 and calendar rolls 208to a Figure 8, the roving creels or bobbins 224 10 coiling mechanism 210by which it is coiled into a container 212.

Referring now to Figure 7 of the drawings, the roving apparatus thereillustrated I comprises a drawing mechanism 214 essentially similar tothe draw frames 142 and 198 previously described and a roving spindlegenerally designated 216. In accordance with the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention here being described, the wool sliver ispreferably subjected to three drawing operations between the combing androving steps, the first of these drawing operations being illustrated inFigure 6. The second of these drawing operations is not illustrated inthe drawings, but can be carried out on a drawing frame such as frames142, 198 and 214 and the product coiled into a container 218(illustrated in Figure 7).

Still referring to Figure 7, sliver from container 218 is fed over aguide roll 220 and then passes through the paired rolls of draw frame214 where it is further attenuated. From the draw frame 214 the rovingpasses to the fiyer 222 of the roving spindle 216 and is wound on abobbin 224 in known manner.

The next step of my process is the spinning step which is illustrated inFigure 8 of the drawings. Referring to and 226 are mounted for rotationin a frame 228. The rovings from bobbins 224 and 226 pass over guiderolls 230 and 232 respectively and are drawn through a funnel 234 bycooperating rolls 236 and 238.. After passing through the rolls 236 and238, the roving is supported on an endless leather apron 240 whichpasses over and is driven by roll 238. The apron 240 also passes over asupporting roll 242 and guide 244, and is held in tension by atensioning roll 246. After leaving apron 240, the roving passes betweena pair of drafting rolls 248 and 250 which rotate somewhat faster thanrolls 236 and 238 and thereby further attenuate the fibres. The apron240 serves to control the shorter fibres as the roving passes from rolls236-238 to rolls 248250. Slip rolls 252 and 254 are provided which bearagainst the roving on the apron to control the fibre mass.

From the rolls 248 and 250, the emerging yarn or thread is spun in aconventional spinning device. Thus the yarn passes through a pigtail 256to the traveler 258 of ring 260 and is then wound on the bobbin 262.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present inventionprovides a combed worsted top or roving or yarn and a process for makingthese products capable of achieving the objects set forth in theintroductory portion of the specification. It is of course to beunderstood that the preferred embodiment of the process here describedis illustrative only and that numerous changes can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in theappended claims.

What I claim is:

l. The system of processing to convert short wool fiber stock intoworsted yarn which comprises, (1) opening and forming a lap, (2) cardingthe lap and converting it into a sliver, (3) combining a plurality ofcarded slivers and drawing them by passing them between successive pairsof rolls, rotating at successively higher speeds, and spaced to handlestock having an average length on the order of one and a quarter inches,(4) combining a plurality of drawn slivers thus forming a lap andcombing the lap, (5) converting the lap into a sliver and drawing it bypassing it between successive pairs of drafting rolls rotating atsuccessively higher speeds spaced to handle said stock, and thereaftersubjecting the sliver to (6) a single roving step, and (7) a singlespinning step.

2. The system of processing to convert wool fibers which arepredominately from one-half inch to three inches in length into worstedyarn which comprises, opening the fibers with a picker and forming theminto a lap, carding the lap and converting it into a sliver, combining aplurality of carded slivers and drawing them by passing 11 them betweensuccessive pairs of rolls rotating at successively higher speeds andspaced tohandle stock predominately one-half to three inches in length,combining a plurality of resulting drawn slivers thus again forming alap and combing the lap, converting the combed lap into a sliver,combining a plurality of combed slivers and drawi hg by passing thecombined slivers between successive pairs of drafting rolls rotating atsuccessively higher speeds spaced to handle said stock, drafting theresulting sliver thereby further reducing its diameter and 10 twistingit to form a roving, and spinning the resulting roving.

I References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS287,405 Barker Oct. 30, 1883 12 874,714 Westcott et a1 Dec. 24, 19071,939,525 Schmitt Dec. 12, 1933 1,994,313 Jacobs Mar. 12, 1935 2,244,363Holdsworth June 3, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 616,815 Great Britain Jan. 27,1949 OTHER REFERENCES Woollen and Worsted, by Roberts Beaumont;published in- Londoni-n 1915 by G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. Copy in Division21, pages 182; 198; 199.

